Design Research and Prototyping

Design research is a concept of research that was developed to look into the process of design, developing from work in design methods. This concept has further been expanded to include research embedded within the process of design, including work in the context of designing and research based design practise.

Prototypes built in the process of carrying out a research play a very important role. They allow for the stakeholders of the research to better understand the concept of their subject and to evaluate their hypotheses and propositions for solutions. Once a prototype has been developed based on the initial idea of the research. Thereafter, the prototype to some extent dictates the direction of the research.

In research concepts that are somewhat technical and require some sort of visible and workable prototype to verify hypotheses, prototypes play a very important role. They serve to show the basic workings of the research idea. 

From all the explanations above, the definition of a prototype, based on Wikipedia can be summarized as, "A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is designed to test and trial a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one."

The development of prototypes has both positive and negative effects on the research and the concept of the product and company developing it. Some advantages are that prototyping provides a proof of concept which comes in very handy especially when soliciting funding. It allows the developers early visibility of the final product, enables higher output, increases system development. Also important is that it helps in the identification of problems with the efficacy of the system and therefore allows a quality product to be delivered. It also allows for user interaction in throughout the design process hence getting consumer feedback which further improves the product.

Some drawbacks of prototyping is that over a long period of time, the consumer may lose interest in the product. As a result of the many changes done to the prototype in the design process, a lot of damage to the structure of the product. Also, development process may be slow as a result of the large number of end-users to satisfy. Prototyping also doesn't work very well for large applications.

In the research paper, Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration, by Haibo Li et al, they investigate how vibration in a mobile phone can be used to render live football information. They have the idea of turning the mobile phone to a football being played in the real field, such that every time an action is taken on the ball, e.g. kicking, the phone vibrates. For this to take place, the mobile phone has to be synchronized with the ball in the field. In their study, they discover that most people watching a football match want to know the main highlights of the game as it is going on: these are such as, when the ball is about to be hit towards the goal post, the team player who has the ball.

Design research can be presented in such a way that it attracts, inspires, creates desires and motivates the people to respond to the research, with a view to making a favorable impact to the bottom line, which can be either to build a brand or move sales. Its process involves strategic business thinking, using market research, creativity, and problem-solving.